FEATURE
KAWASAKI RIDER PROJECT
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through the chassis, and I'd run
wide, ruining my drive.
This is something I will be
working on for years. Cameron
Beaubier is brilliant at this tech-
nique, and one that makes him
so glass smooth on the bike. I
haven't nailed it properly yet, but
I'll keep working on it.
The final point of standing the
bike up off the exit is a clas-
sic superbike technique that's
harder to master than you might
think. In round one I'd be sitting
too much in the center of the
seat, not giving myself enough
room to move on the bike. But
I don't want to get too far off,
because then I'd be right on the
side of the tire and unable to get
all the grunt to the ground.
It's just a simple shift of the
ass, but doing so changes
everything—your upper body
has to move in unison with your
lower half, you can't dip your
shoulders into the turn, and you
need to move the bike away from
you (pick it up) as you power out
hard on the exit. I think I only
really nailed this on one corner,
and could feel the bike instantly
hook up, but like the on-off
throttle, getting this technique
consistently right will take more
time than just two days at the
school.
Regardless, the two days at
Jason's Star School did wonders
for my riding and I'd recommend
the school to anyone who wants
to get faster.
For a full rundown on the two
days at Jason Pridmore's Star
Motorcycle School, including
videos from both days, click
here.
CRUNCH TIME
The return weekend at Chuck-
walla for round two of CVMA
was crunch time for this project.
Should I actually go slower than
when I started, I'd have not just
myself but also my boss, Kawa-
saki and Jason to answer to, and
to be honest, that didn't sound
like a whole lot of fun.
I didn't put myself in the best
position to better my round-one
By the time Rennie
went back to
Chuckwalla, he was
averaging about
2.5 seconds per lap
faster using Jason's
techniques.
